We find it was on the observance or desecration of the Sabbath that the prosperity of the Hebrew nation hung. "You bring wrath upon the nation," cried Nehemiah to the Sabbath-breaking traders. "This very profanation has been the cause of our disasters in times past." For Sabbath profanation leads to forgetfulness of God; and God left out, what becomes of man? Ruin stares him in the face. "The ungodly shall not prosper." What becomes of a nation? Ruin! They shall be left to their own doings. The French nation blotted out the Sabbath, and showed what it was to be left of God.
When an African prince sent an embassy to Queen Victoria with costly presents, and asked her to tell him in return the secret of England's greatness and England's glory, presenting him with a copy of the Bible, the Queen replied, "Tell your prince that this is the secret of England's greatness."
For all our institutions, all our civil and religious interests, we need the morality of the Bible, the conscience and the self-restraint which the Bible enjoins; and for this purpose we must vigorously support the institutions of the Bible. Foremost in the foreground is the Sabbath. It has come down to us through the ages, the great commemoration-day of a finished creation and a completed atonement, summoning men to call on the name of the Lord, and bless and praise his holy name.
On its observance the highest moral education of the people depends. Every railroad corporation is bound to be a Sabbath-keeping corporation. It makes time enough to do its work. The nature of its work demands responsible men. An immense amount of property is in its hands, requiring officers of scrupulous integrity to manage its interests. The gross receipts of eight railways terminating in London are over £200,000 a week.
It has the life and limbs of thousands upon thousands intrusted to its charge, at the mercy of its employés, engineers, firemen, brakemen, switchmen, the recklessness or unfaithfulness of any of whom may bring sudden death to scores, and plunge a nation into mourning. These men, to be kept the right men, need the Sabbath. To be honest, responsible, vigilant, true, God-fearing men, fit for their posts of duty, they must have the Sabbath.
Many roads are Sabbath-keeping. Some of those which do run on that day are poorly paid. Carrying the mail helps them out. They run, perhaps, for that purpose. But is it necessary to keep up Sabbath violation on our great routes in order to forward the mail? Does not the Saturday telegraph do away with that necessity? Every important item of business can be put through on the wires in time.
The side of the Sabbath is the side of God.
What became of George Stephenson and his son Robert? the boys will have the curiosity to ask.
George and Robert Stephenson took their rank among the great men of England—that class of great men who contribute to the true prosperity of the world, by giving it better tools to do its labour with. A good tool is a great civilizer. The more perfect the instrument, the better the work. The more perfect the instrument, the greater the number of persons benefited; for the sagacity necessary to invention and discovery, and the intelligence required to mature them, are large-hearted and broad-minded. They work for the many, not for the few.